The Legislature's back in the Capitol. We update the battle over prison overcrowding, medical care and money. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, with homelessness on the increase, cities are passing laws that make it harder to survive on the streets. Is Los Angeles really America's "meanest city?"

FROM THIS EPISODE

The legislature is back, faced with a prison riot, a federal court order and the need to cut another $1.2 billion from the state budget. Plus, a week-long event at the Inglewood Forum demonstrates just how inadequate LA's medical system really is. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, with homelessness on the increase, cities are passing laws that make it harder than ever to survive on the streets. Is Los Angeles really America's "meanest city?" We hear a heated debate.

Banner image: An inmate at the Mule Creek State Prison walks near their bunk beds in a gymnasium that was modified to house prisoners in Ione, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Last month's state budget failed to provide a blueprint for cutting $1.2 billion from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Since then, there's been a prison riot at Chino and a federal court order to reduce the prison population statewide by 40,000 inmates in two years. What does Governor Schwarzenegger propose to do?

Guests:Scott Kernan, California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationCurt Hagman, San Bernardino County Board of SupervisorsZachary Norris, Director of Books Not Bars, EllaBakerCenter.org

Main TopicIs Poverty Being Criminalized in the Midst of a Recession?
19 MIN, 27 SEC

In hard times, with hunger and homelessness on the rise, cities around the country are making it harder than ever to survive on the streets. And Los Angeles is America's “meanest city.” That's according to a controversial study by The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

If anyone doubts that the health system is broken in Southern California, consider last week's spectacle at the Inglewood Forum: thousands of people lining up to get free medical care and thousands more turned away for lack of available volunteers. Carol Meyer is chief network officer for the LA County Department of Health Services.